In the year 67 AD Roman rule in Palestine descends into chaos when the Jews rise to dispel their masters. Emperor Vespasian calls upon Trajan's father Traianus, commander of the famed Tenth Legion, to help defeat the rebellion. After a terrible war Trajan resolves to become a soldier like him. As a young general and successful beyond his own expectations he is soon drawn into the conflict between the tyrant Emperor Domitian and Nerva, leader of the Senate. Nerva prevails, becomes emperor and appoints Trajan as his successor. His rule is tumultuous and short, and when Nerva dies Trajan s time has come. Can he prove himself against the temptations of power and the siren song of military glory? Can he defeat rapacious northern raiders from Dacia and hold off the Parthian empire - and at the same time retain his dignity in the face of unrelenting challenges from all sides? In Trajan - Lion of Rome the ancient world comes alive. Based on factual events, C.R.H. Wildfeuer takes the reader with him on a great adventure and to a time when the Roman empire controlled the western world from Scotland to the Persian Gulf. Enjoy this epic tale of political intrigue, social struggles, ambitious women and gruesome battles.
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C.R.H. Wildfeuer, in his excellent new novel Trajan: Lion of Rome, succeeds despite the paucity of memoirs from this first-century emperor's time. This comparative lack of documentation gives any novelist writing about this time a free hand, and it's puzzling more writers haven't taken advantage of that to my knowledge, this is only the third novel about Trajan ever written in English. It's all the more amazing when you consider that the Romans themselves thought Trajan was the greatest of their emperors, and it's easy to see why. He ruled the empire at its greatest territorial expanse (from Scotland to the Persian Gulf, as Wildfeuer puts it) and was himself responsible for a great deal of that expanse; he was a military emperor who nevertheless conducted a vast amount of civic building, and by all accounts he was personally benevolent as well. Wildfeuer pulls all of these things together into a character who's thoroughly the hero of his own story. This Trajan never schemes for power (he's dumbfounded when aging Nerva picks him to succeed), never lets power go to his head (he's painfully earnest even in private conversation with his right-hand man Licinius Sura), and never chases boys (our author's discretion here is positively Jeevesian). And it all works from first to last page, it works perfectly. Wildfeuer's mastery of his material is as effortless as it is extensive, but his dramatic instincts are stronger still, which is why when the novel is over, he uses an appendix to lay out carefully where and why he deviates from recorded facts. There's also a helpful glossary and a generous selection of first-rate maps, but Trajan: Lion of Rome could stand perfectly without any of these things: it's extremely good and entirely recommended. --Steve Donoghue --Historical Novels Review Online
About the Author
* Born in Munich, Germany, in 1961 * Abitur (Grammar School diploma) in 1980, including seven years of Latin * 15 months compulsory army service, 1980-81 * Graduate degree in Communications Sciences from prestigious Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet, Munich * Editor at Microcomputer Magazine (Bertelsmann Corp.) * Freelance writer and translator * Extensive travels in the Mediterranean researching 'Trajan - Lion of Rome' * Became an American citizen in 2008 * 'Trajan - Lion of Rome' rated as recommended by the San Diego Writers and Editors Guild
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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Horribly disappointed...,
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This review is from: Trajan: Lion of Rome, the Untold Story of Rome's Greatest Emperor (Hardcover)
Wildfeuer is a great historian and obviously knows his subject well. He is a horrible writer. His characterizations are all wooden and static, his plot is little developed beyond the original source documents he pulls the history from, even the scene creation is clumsy and amateur. The book reads as if it is written on a high-school level of creative writing skill, not that of someone who has studied this period and this person for so many years. With an average chapter length of only a few pages, it does little to really dig in depth into the character of Trajan, his motivations, beliefs, and personality. It feels stilted and awkward.
I will grant that Wildfeuer uses Latin well in the story, and certainly understands his time and place in the Roman world. But his very shaky writing skills do little to suck you into the life of this very interesting emperor, (known as one of the so-called "five good emperors"). If anything, you are so distracted by how poorly written it is, it's hard to keep on task with the things he does well in the book. I was so disappointed, I regret paying the amount I did for it. Personally I don't even want to keep the book, but loath subjecting anyone else to it.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
A Journeyman's Effort,
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Trajan: Lion of Rome, the Untold Story of Rome's Greatest Emperor (Hardcover)
Dear me !!! If someone was paid to edit this tome then the author should demand a refund immediately . Appalling and glaring mistakes both in sentence structure and spelling abound.The writing is cliche riddled and even if acceptable seems directed to a young teen audience rather than an adult lover of historical fiction . Pity really because the premise of the book is interesting but is a premise badly served by the author - so badly that very soon the book becomes tedious and one arrives at the conclusion that life is too short to persist with yet another bad book
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not exactly user friendly but...,
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This review is from: Trajan: Lion of Rome, the Untold Story of Rome's Greatest Emperor (Hardcover)
The book is not exactly user friendly but give it a go if you enjoy history and don't need it spoon fed in McCullough or Scarrow rapturous story. I agree with some of the critical comments that the writing does seem static, not well developed, and initially appeared to be geared to a more juvenile (high school) audience. This is perhaps because the author decided not to deviate to much from the historical record. This hurt the book's character development. I was so dissapointed in the first 70 pages that I decided to read the reviews. Some reviews crucified Wildfeuer and some positive reviewers must of read the wrong book. The book is clearly not a 1 star but it ain't no 5 star either. In any event, I decided to plod thru it anyway since I paid for the hardcover. To my surprise, I think the writing got better. I did find it interesting after about page 100 and the maps were helpful and appreciated. It reads like a good history book but not a swashbuckling Scarrow read or an intricately written character driven book like McCullough writes. If you are expecting that then you will be dissapointed. However, if you like the historical period, then I think its possible to enjoy the book. I started out hating it but liked the book in the end. Thus the 3 star rating.
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